Chronic fatigue syndrome and Australian psychiatry: lessons from the UK experience.

Department of Psychiatry, St Vincent's Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia. couperjw@svhm.org.au

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to outline the opportunities and dangers the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) issue presents to Australian psychiatry. METHOD: The scientific literature of the last 50 years on CFS in adults was reviewed and samples of recent media portrayals of CFS in the UK and Australia were collected. The author has worked in both the UK and Australia managing adult CFS patients in specialist outpatient consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry settings. RESULTS: Chronic fatigue syndrome has been at the heart of an acrimonious debate in the UK, both within the medical profession and in the wider community. UK psychiatry has been drawn into the debate, at times being the target of strong and potentially damaging criticism, yet UK psychiatry, especially the C-L subspecialty, has played a crucial role in clarifying appropriate research questions and in devising management strategies. The issue has served to enhance and broaden psychiatry's perceived research and clinical role at the important medicine-psychiatry interface in that country. CONCLUSIONS: Handled properly, the CFS issue offers Australian psychiatry, especially C-L psychiatry, an opportunity to make a useful contribution to patient care in a clinically difficult and contentious area, while at the same time serving to help broaden psychiatry's scope in the Australian medical landscape.

PMID: 11037362 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]